Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that ticket sales are up this year and that he’s hoping “all the hype turns into reality.” Lerner weighed in on an assortment of Nationals-related topics; here are the details:
- Lerner said he doesn’t know or care how valuable the Nationals are. “It’s not something we’re ever going to get rid of,” he said.
- Though Stan Kasten isn’t prohibited from hiring Nationals employees, Lerner doesn’t expect the new Dodgers executive to lure Washington’s front office staff to Los Angeles. “Stan is an honorable man,” Lerner said. “He wouldn’t do that.”
- People close to GM Mike Rizzo say it’s doubtful he’d be willing to work under Kasten again. It’s unlikely that Rizzo would have as much autonomy working under his former boss.
- Rizzo signed a five-year extension following the 2010 season and Lerner said he hasn’t considered discussing another extension just yet. However, he praised his GM’s work and suggested a new deal will occur eventually. “When the time comes, I’m sure we’ll have discussions with Mike.”
- Lerner called the Gio Gonzalez trade a bold move that the Nationals couldn’t have made a year ago.
I know I hear a lot more friends making plans to get to Nationals Park. Kasten always said the team would get the attendance it deserves. We are starting to believe they deserve a whole lot of folks in the seats.
+1/2St.
The bad part of that is that these new “fans” aren’t real fans. They are just there as bandwagon and if things start going wrong, they disappear.
any winning/hyped team with a nice stadium will bring in bandwagon fans.
During the first years of Nationals ownership, the fans of DC thought we had some cheapskate owners who didn’t care about the team or the ciity. Happily, that fear has long since dissipated as the Lerner family has opened its coffers wide for salaries and operating expenses and has built a team that is on the verge of contending.
There is an attention to detail that is impressive. I’m not 100% sold on Rizzo but I am sold on the Lerner family and their commitment to making the Nationals an outstanding franchise.
The Nats are still 20th (out of 30) as far as Opening Day salaries count. And for me, I wouldn’t say that the fear has “long since dissipated”.
And what attention to detail are you referring to?
I wonder if Lerner, not directly addressing another extension, is leaning towards a more saber-oriented guy to succeed Rizzo, who has a background as a scout and is kinda old-school.